“SadBad”

There’s a certain heft to vocalist Isabel Reidy’s voice—a weight that feels precariously balanced atop Izzy True’s sloping slacker rock. On the title track from their sophomore album, Sad Bad, the Ithaca, New York, group weaves together charmingly askew guitar riffs with an open, easy drum beat and a snaking bassline. The instruments fit together loosely, like they’re all having a comfortable, low-stakes conversation with each other. Reidy’s frank, disarming voice hits somewhere between Big Thief’s Adrianne Lenker and Silver Jews' David Berman. Reidy (who uses they/them pronouns) sings like they want their voice to burrow into the ground and take to the skies in the same instance, swinging back and forth from a gruff lower register to a breezy head voice. “I was at a party/Couldn’t tell the souls from the bodies,” they sing. “Someone always has to say/It’s the wrong time.” Reidy’s lyrics share Berman's fondness for simplicity and surrealism, but the most affecting parts of “SadBad” come when there are hardly any lyrics at all: the “all rights” and “oohs” where Reidy crimps their voice up, like their casual, cool veneer is about to come apart. “SadBad” hits all the emotional notes experienced by someone who’s both trying to keep it together and just about ready to unravel. It’s not an easy balance to strike, but Izzy True walks the line with a steady gait.